News: It’s a win for India’s diplomacy that the G7 group looks set to offer it a climate partnership deal. Unless it places an unfair burden on us, let’s use the funds to decarbonize our economy faster. What is the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP)? Upon taking over the G-7 presidency for 2022, host Germany… Continue reading Welcome a G-7 package for an energy transition
Category: 9 PM Daily Articles
India at bottom in EPI 2022 but environment survey confuses and stifles honest discussion on climate change
News: The 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released on World Environment Day (June 5) has triggered much distress in India, as the country is ranked last (180th). The government has issued a fierce rebuttal. How do we make sense of this debate? What are some problems with indexes? Indexes are inherently problematic, especially when applied… Continue reading India at bottom in EPI 2022 but environment survey confuses and stifles honest discussion on climate change
Economic impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict: Global macro in 2022/2023
News: The Russia-Ukraine conflict has the potential of creating macroeconomic/financial crises in many countries. What is the vulnerability of dependence on Russian oil and gas? Before invading Ukraine, Russia was the world’s biggest exporter of oil, at about 8 million barrels a day. In addition, about a third of Europe’s gas supply came from Russia.… Continue reading Economic impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict: Global macro in 2022/2023
English-Vinglish, Hindi-Shindi: India doesn’t need a national language. Plus, Hindi is growing & English is no longer elitist
Context: Should India have a national language? And if not, then why not. The article discusses the reasons as to why India is better off without any national language and why it must not try and impose Hindi on non-hindi speakers. Global examples In theory, a national language is a nice idea, but imposing it… Continue reading English-Vinglish, Hindi-Shindi: India doesn’t need a national language. Plus, Hindi is growing & English is no longer elitist
Finger in every pie: Regular theft of biometric data shows how lax information storage is and why we need a strong law
News: Hyderabad police recently caught a man with around 2,000 fingerprints of separate individuals that were being used to purchase SIM cards, create bank accounts, and then engineer more frauds. Widespread use of biometrics Smaller public and private entities have now taken to biometrics with passion. Bengaluru Metro is mulling a facial recognition-based pass and… Continue reading Finger in every pie: Regular theft of biometric data shows how lax information storage is and why we need a strong law
Controlling the hard sell
News: ‘Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022’ have been notified by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). These guidelines have been long overdue. What are the key provisions under the new rules? Under the new rules, – Penalties for misleading advertisements have been linked to the definition of such… Continue reading Controlling the hard sell
The FATF and Pakistan’s position on its ‘grey list’
Context: Ahead of the plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in Berlin, Pakistan is hoping for a removal of its name from the FATF’s ‘grey list’ or the list of countries presenting a risk to the global financial system. In its last plenary meeting in March, the FATF had retained Pakistan’s listing,… Continue reading The FATF and Pakistan’s position on its ‘grey list’
What has Rajya Sabha achieved that a stand-alone Lok Sabha has not, or would not?
News: Constituent Assembly was divided on the opinion on establishing Rajya Sabha. That debate still holds relevance even after so many years. What are the arguments against the establishment and functioning of the Rajya Sabha? Lokanath Misra in the Constituent Assembly was of the opinion that, a) It will not serve any useful purpose, b)… Continue reading What has Rajya Sabha achieved that a stand-alone Lok Sabha has not, or would not?
NSS, CMIE are surveys not comparable. Studies should not relate them
News: Recently, policy advisors and researchers at the IMF and World Bank have also attempted to estimate headcount ratios under various assumptions. About the recent poverty measurements by IMF and World Bank The IMF method: It carried out the exercise using adjustments for private final consumption expenditure from the National Accounts Statistics and also using… Continue reading NSS, CMIE are surveys not comparable. Studies should not relate them
Misery Index
Misery index is a simple sum of a nation’s annual inflation rate and its unemployment rate. The higher the index, the more the misery felt by average citizens. The first Misery Index was constructed by economist Art Okun in the 1960s. The Index has been modified several times, first by Robert Barro of Harvard and… Continue reading Misery Index
